Review Detail of KJGrenidier in Omniscient Reader

"Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?" Matthew 7:3 This is a novel with some of the best world-building and story-telling I have ever read, yet it falls hard on its face once the story branches outside of Korea. As soon as Japanese characters enter, they are depicted - as an entire people group - as racist, two-faced, shallow, and cruel. I cannot in good conscience support a novel that blatantly pitches another people group as sub-human or inherently evil, especially when they are unwilling to share their own people group's faults. This is in itself inherently racist. If you are going to write about racism or any similar issue, write about your own failings first before calling out others. The author clearly chose to depict the racist side of the Japanese first before anything else, just as much as they chose to not depict the racist side of the South Koreans first (which is ironic, because by doing this the author only proves they are racist, not the Japanese). The author may later on show good Japanese people and racist South Koreans, but the issue is that they are already set up to be the exception to the norm. In any media - whether webnovel, film, speech, etc. - what you say first about someone or something is what you are making the "normal state or condition" about that someone or something. This can be done intentionally so as to manipulate people to think about someone in a particular way. Introducing my wife to my friends as someone who loves to play board games will have a drastically different effect on the initial perspective they have about her compared to introducing her as someone who loves to nag (I am not married, fyi), no matter how she acts for the rest of the night. Do I want the precedent I set about who my wife is be something she has to work against, or something she can work with? How about entire people groups like the Japanese, or the people of any nation? As of chapter 123, where I stopped, the Japanese have been painted as racist, two-faced, shallow, and cruel - and not as individuals, but as a group. In order for a new Japanese character to look different to us the readers, they are going to have to prove they aren't also racist, two-faced, shallow or cruel. Can they do it? Sure. But they shouldn't have to. No one should by their gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, or color of their skin, have to prove that they are "different than the rest." This is not how we end racism. We end it by confessing our errors first, for those are the only errors we can fix. “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you... How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye." Matthew 7:1‭-‬2‭, ‬4‭-‬5 If you haven't read this novel yet, don't start. It is addicting and amazing in nearly every way, which is what makes it such a disappointment when the author starts to demean and dehumanize entire nations. Look elsewhere for a good story that does not normalize racism. You won't die skipping this one.